Erdoğan’s former speechwriter: Call for Gülen’s return was tactical move


Date posted: August 26, 2016

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former speechwriter and current Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Aydın Ünal wrote on Thursday that Erdoğan has never liked Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and that his call for Gülen to return to Turkey in 2012 was a political maneuver.

The admission came in Ünal’s Thursday column in pro-government daily Yeni Şafak in response to criticism that Erdoğan and his party had supported the grassroots social and educational movement inspired by the teachings of Turkish Islamic scholar Gülen.

“Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Necmettin Erbakan [former prime minister and leader of the political Islamist movement in Turkey] and the political movement that led to the AK Party’s birth have never liked Fethullah Gülen and never were in harmony with him,” Ünal wrote, a fact that is known to observers of religious movements in the country. Ünal, however, added that Erdoğan never trusted Gülen, either.

However, Erdoğan attended the 2012 Turkish Olympiads, the flagship event of the Gülen movement, and made a now infamous call to Gülen, who is in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. Erdoğan called for an “end to Gülen’s longing” and asked him to return to his home country.

According to Ünal, this was never a sincere invitation. Calling people who applauded Erdoğan’s request in a standing ovation “thousands of idiots,” Ünal said that unlike that crowd, the people who saw the beginning of the antagonism that emerged between Erdoğan and Gülen realized that the invitation “cornered” Gülen. Ünal termed Erdoğan’s insincere call “a maneuver of political genius” while admitting Erdoğan’s hypocrisy.

Following the massive corruption investigations of 2013 that implicated Erdoğan’s family, Turkey’s then prime minister accused Gülen of plotting a coup against his government. Hours after Turkey’s foiled coup in July, Erdoğan also declared Gülen the mastermind of the coup plot despite the lack of credible evidence.

An even more extensive witch-hunt against Gülen sympathizers has been ongoing since July 15.

Source: Turkish Minute , August 25, 2016

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement by Annabel Hertz

Annabel Hertz has over a decade of leadership and consulting experience in policy development and external relations for issues-based/stakeholder organizations in the areas of international relations and sustainable development. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in international relations at American University. Previously, she was an adjunct professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International […]

Whistleblower says gov’t preparing to close down Gülen-inspired schools

A government whistleblower has claimed the government is preparing to shut down schools believed to be close to the Gülen movement, a faith-based grassroots social initiative inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, in Turkey on the pretext that the schools are not being properly administered.

Gulen movement’s three pillars

The book of Mehmet Gundem “The Necessary Man” which is about the life of Turkish Jew Ishak Alaton has interesting details. According to Alaton, the accomplishment of the Gulen movement is based on three pillars: Gulen went beyond ordinary First, Mr. Gulen thinks outside the box. He broke taboos in Turkey and he brought together […]

Turkey seizes billions of dollars worth 691 companies over alleged ties to Gülen movement

The state-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) has announced that a total of 691 companies, some of whose assets are worth billions of dollars, have been seized by the government due to alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement. The government has been confiscating the private property of non-loyalist businesspeople without due process on unsubstantiated charges of terrorist links.

Dr. Phyllis Bernard’s views on Fethullah Gulen & Gulen Movement

Dr. Phyllis Bernard: “My speech was as much as anything else a ‘Thank you’ to the Hizmet Movement.. for making an incredible opportunity available for scholars, researchers, practitioners to understand a lot more about what stewardship in business is about. Hopefully as we continue to teach people about how business works in different places around the world, we’ll have a lot more respect and understanding for the kind of Islamic cultural values that one finds everywhere. And our entry way for that were the Hizmet Movement businesspeople; they were astoundingly fine.”

Compensation case filed against Erdoğan for targeting Gülen-inspired schools

Fetih Educational Operations (Fetih Eğitim İşletmeleri), which run schools affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement, has filed a compensation case against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for targeting these schools since the eruption of a major corruption scandal in December 2013.

Latest News

Sacramento leaders gather for Iftar dinner in celebration of Ramadan

SEO Skill Suite: Tools for Keyword Research, Technical & Backlink Analysis

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

In Case You Missed It

The Peace Islands Institute’s 5th Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Award

Erdogan critic calls jailing of his mother and brother ‘perverse’ and ‘politically motivated’

Sajjanhar: Dialogue urges one to excel in one’s own faith

Scholars at Abant Meeting call for EU negotiations, domestic reform

Fethullah Gülen’s Message of Condolences for the Death of Soccer Star, Diego Maradona

What does religion have to do with corruption?

Ebru TV telethon collects nearly $800,000 for victims of Turkey quake

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News